Seeing Stars
by Kuneko
Summary: I had expected a slap, but not a right-hook angled straight at my jaw. It left me seeing stars, and in those stars, I saw her face. [Hero of Leaf Valley. Alice/Gwen Drabble]


**/Author's Note:** The following fanfic was brought to you by a prompt from Singkatsu, as well as my never-ending desire to write about Gwen punching things. And by the eternal draught of HoLV fics! I hope you have as much fun reading this as I did writing it. Leave a review! Do it! Enjoy. **End Author's Note/**

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 *** Seeing Stars *  
**

Sticking a perfectly manicured finger between perfectly glossed lips, I probed around for a tooth; I felt it wiggle.

It was _definitely_ loose, which meant a visit to the dentist as soon as I got the chance to leave this ramshackle village. It also meant staying _away_ from hard foods: no more of Renton's buttered corn, which he _insisted_ on making on a regular basis, with no regard for _my_ tastes. (We can't all have buck teeth and the evolutionary advantage of corn-eating that comes with them). No, I'll have to ask Charles to pick some things up. It'll be nothing but ice cream, pudding, and cheesecake from now on. This town _did_ have ice cream, right? Ugh, but then my calory count is going to _skyrocket…_

My life isn't easy. Sure, I might make it _look_ easy – but that only means I'm doing a good job.

And I _am_. Being the Funland CEO at my age – and with my looks – is no walk in the park. Father always said that those little things I couldn't control – my gender, my stature, my _impeccable_ fashion sense – meant people would never take me seriously, that they would always underestimate me. He was right; always, forever.

Except _she_ didn't.

I expected some resistance, of course, the day I made my way down to the village ranch to deliver the news: The approval had finally come down the bureaucratic pipes and into my hands - the approval to begin prospecting the land for the construction of the Funland Amusement Park. The ranch would be the first to go – and thank the Goddess for that, because the sooner we purge the land of that awful animal stench, the better. I had to do everything to stop myself from walking around with a clothespin on my noise.

Greeting me and my entourage were two of the villagers. One was a bulky block of a man, more cube than person, and the other was that sorry excuse for a girl, her eyes fox-like, her arms brawny, and her hair erupting in a golden fountain from the top of her head. They smelled almost as bad as the animals.

"You said we had time!" the words exploded from her mouth before I had even finished speaking. "You told us that if we got the 50,000G together, you'd leave us alone!"

I tittered, holding my cheek in my hand. "Right, _that._ I mean… let's be honest. I don't think this _entire village put together_ would be worth 50,000G." Hell, some of my _outfits_ were worth that much, but I didn't dare voice that – who _knows_ what these savages might do. "I think we all know that was just a courtesy offer."

The blonde was sputtering with anger, while her companion (- boyfriend? Do these things _breed_? -) made some noises that sounded like they could have been words had they come from someone whose face wasn't 80% jaw. Beastly quadrupeds galloped across the field, blissfully unaware. The whole scene was a stark reminder that the sorry state of this village was _much_ worse than I had even imagined. The opening of an amusement park was practically a charity.

"You're a _monster._ " She spat each word venomously.

"I'm a businesswoman." I replied coolly.

Her eyes narrowed into a glare that attempted to bore into my unflinching gaze.

"This will go smoothly for _all_ of us if you just cooperate. I'll have landscapers coming to assess the land tomorrow morning. _Try_ not to be seen, if you can, and the same goes for _those_ ugly things," I nodded in the direction of the horses, "After all, we don't want to scare away any contractors with that _unearthly_ stench."

Like I said: I had expected resistance. I had expected a slap, one that I could sidestep for Charles to intercept, as he had done on numerous occasions before - but I had not expected a right-hook angled straight at my jaw.

It left me seeing stars, and in those stars, I saw her face.

…

For some Goddess-only-knows reason, I felt my mouth twist into a wobbly smile at the memory. (She must have given me a mild concussion, too.)

I felt the loose tooth wiggle again against the pressure of my tongue.

… Maybe I'll force _her_ to take me out for some ice cream. Her treat.

Yes. That'll show her.


End file.
